Editorial: One for the middle class

Published 9:13 pm, Sunday, July 12, 2015

A state wage board is expected to recommend a long-needed pay hike for fast-food workers.

THE STAKES:

The action will help them, but it stands to improve the situation for all the middle class.

---

A state board has the power Monday to accomplish something the Legislature has been unwilling to do: take a bold step in the fight against poverty and the ills of income inequality.

The panel, convened by the state labor commissioner at the behest of Gov. Andrew Cuomo, is expected to make its final recommendation on whether New York's fast-food workers — whose wages average around $8.50 an hour, or roughly $17,000 annually for a full-time position — are paid too little to maintain a decent standard of living.

More Information

That fact is already clear, especially when you consider that 71.5 percent of New York's 180,000 fast-food workers are over 21, many supporting families. They need a pay boost.

In recent weeks, the panel heard from nearly 2,000 fast-food workers. Sometimes tearfully, they articulated how difficult and exhausting it is to live on minimum or near-minimum wage. The panel also heard from industry representatives who argued granting a substantial raise for the workers could drive business and jobs out of New York.

But that claim ignores the broad economic benefit of lifting wages at the bottom. Every penny of new pay to minimum wage workers goes quickly back into the economy as they purchase goods and services. The whole business community thus benefits, and with that, all the rest of us do, too.

The board must clearly define who is eligible for the long-needed wage relief and which businesses would be covered, and then the governor can implement its recommendations. The wage panel is being urged to recommend raising the fast-food employee minimum hourly pay to $15, a move that would shift a small portion of the multi-billion dollar industry's profits to the frontline employees. It's worth noting that the average CEO for a major fast-food chain is paid $23 million annually.

While this action only covers workers in the fast-food business, Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul recently said the Cuomo administration would next turn to other industries that need similar wage adjustments. As that plays out, the action affecting the fast-food industry will start things moving in a positive direction, by putting pressure on other employers who rely on low-paid workers. If they don't step up, after all, their employees could defect to the Golden Arches.

Even more beneficial would be an across-the-board hike in the minimum wage nationally. Since the Great Recession, those in the highest income brackets have done even better, while study after study shows that middle-class and low-wage workers haven't shared in the recovery. Scores of economists say raising the minimum wage is one of the fastest tactics to spread the economic revival.

Faced with a Republican-led state Senate that has blocked real wage reform, Mr. Cuomo deserves praise for smart use of his executive authority to make what is a fair and just step that stands to help all of us.